Asian American advocates decry parody by TV's O'Donnell

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, December 14, 2006

Photo: MARY ALTAFFER

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**FILE** Rosie O'Donnell, fills the moderator slot on "The View" vacated by Meredith Vieira during the taping of the first show of the 10th season of the ABC women's chat show in this, Sept. 5, 2006 file photo, in New York. She's only been on "The View" for three months and already there are published rumors that Rosie O'Donnell wants out. She tried to shoot them down on Thursday. "Don't anybody worry where Rosie's going," she said. "She's right here." (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, file) **FILE** less

**FILE** Rosie O'Donnell, fills the moderator slot on "The View" vacated by Meredith Vieira during the taping of the first show of the 10th season of the ABC women's chat show in this, Sept. 5, 2006 file photo, ... more

Photo: MARY ALTAFFER

Asian American advocates decry parody by TV's O'Donnell

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Ever since comedian Rosie O'Donnell mocked spoken Chinese, repeating "ching chong" over and over on "The View" talk show, a video clip of her performance has been circulating on the Internet -- offering immediate and indisputable proof.

As with comedian Michael Richards' ranting use of a racial slur -- recorded on a camera phone -- that flew around the Web in November, new technology is helping stir public outcry over O'Donnell's remarks.

So far, she has not apologized for her Dec. 5 comments as Asian Americans in the Bay Area and across the country are demanding.

She writes that she "wasn't mocking / that's my best impression" and that her "bad accent was not meant to insult or degrade / linguistic incompetence -- guilty / mocking -- never." She tells one detractor to go "f- urself."

Spoofing a language belittles the people who speak it, community leaders say. They also say it's disappointing to hear such insensitivity from O'Donnell, who has championed gay and lesbian rights and taken others to task for being homophobic.

"She's shrugging it off, saying get over it, but it's hypocritical," said Pauline Sze, 20, a UC Berkeley student and an editor of Hardboiled, a news magazine focusing on Asian American issues. "It devalues the language and mocks the people who speak it."

The Organization of Chinese Americans, the Asian American Justice Center, New York City Councilman John Liu, the Asian American Journalists Association, and UNITY -- which represents more than 10,000 minority journalists -- are among the growing number of critics.

O'Donnell's supporters have contributed to her blog, commenting that critics should "lighten up" and "they need to chill."

"Rosie's remarks were intended to poke fun at the global attention being given to Danny DeVito's appearance on 'The View.' She certainly didn't mean to offend anyone," ABC spokesman Karl Nilsson said Wednesday. He declined to say if O'Donnell will address the issue on the show.

"What's disturbing is that Rosie, Barbara (Walters) and the producers of 'The View' are all aware of the controversy and they're not giving any response," said Rene Astudillo, executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association, headquartered in San Francisco. "She owes it to the community to acknowledge a lot of people were hurt, even if she says it wasn't her intention. 'The View' is a popular program aired on a respectable network. If we don't say something about it, every other person will say it's OK. Had Rosie faked ebonics or exaggerated a lisp to imitate gays, would she expect people to be quiet?"

"While she may think this is good fun, these kinds of racial stereotypes contribute to people who use them in a malicious and pernicious way," said Malcolm Yeung, an attorney at the Asian Law Caucus, a San Francisco advocacy and civil rights group.

In 2003, a group of white teenagers shouted in a sing-song imitation of Chinese before attacking Asian American youths in San Francisco's Sunset District. One teenager was eventually convicted of felony and misdemeanor assault in a hate crime.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco school board passed a resolution stating that the district valued multilingualism, and it established a task force to develop a long-term plan to encourage opportunities for all students to learn more than one language. Such policies challenge the ignorance of comedians like O'Donnell, school board member Eric Mar said Wednesday.

Her remarks are a "put-down of Chinese and various immigrants," Mar said. "There's a whole history of subordinating people who are immigrants."

Following community pressure, radio show host Adam Carolla apologized during his show for airing a skit in which characters said "ching chong" repeatedly, earlier this year. And in 1995, Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York apologized on the Senate floor after he mimicked Judge Lance Ito -- who oversaw the O.J. Simpson trial -- on Don Imus' radio show, using a fake Japanese accent.